Federal immigration officers fanned out across Banks' home state during what ICE called "Operation Safe Community: Indiana." The agency says those arrested had records involving sex crimes, assault, domestic violence, drug trafficking and weapons offenses.
"This is why Donald Trump was elected in 2024, for mass deportation," Banks told Fox News Digital. He's using the numbers from the sweep to push for legislation that would lock the current enforcement approach into law.
For families in Indiana communities touched by the operation, the arrests mean people with those criminal records are now in federal custody rather than out in neighborhoods. Nationally, Banks' push signals Republicans want more than executive action. They want a law that outlasts any single president, so the next administration can't simply reverse the crackdown with a signature.
Nearly 500 arrests in under a week raises an obvious question, how many more operations like this are already being planned in other states.